AMBOY – The Amboy Board of Education held their regular meeting at Central School on March 18. Several items of business were discussed, including 8-man football, and principals’ reports were given. 

PRINCIPALS’ REPORTS

Amboy High School Principal Janet Crownhart congratulated March Student of the Month Nastasja Vaessen.

Curriculum and School Improvement

• On March 2, district staff attended the SIP day presentation on “Building Relationships with Students” given by Krista Peterson of the Regional Office of Education. Then ELA met to discuss curriculum and Amie Wiseman updated on technology ideas for the classroom.

• On March 5, the Continuous School Improvement team worked with Anji Garza on root causes and ways to improve student performance. The team then went to Sauk on March 12 to work on the next steps in the process.

• The Leadership Team met on March 11 to get teacher input on how their classroom policies may impact the School Improvement Team.

• Miss Benesh took 16 students to the Holocaust Museum on March 10.

School Activities

• Career Fair was held during the SIP day on March 2. All students were able to speak with local employers about their work, schooling needed, and to ask any other questions they had. 

There were about 40 employers available for students. Crownhart thanked Deanna Drew, Amie Wiseman, Melissa Mills, and Katie Bulfer for their help making the career fair happen.

• MORP was held March 6 from 8-10 p.m. with the juniors winning PowerBuff Volleyball from 4-6 p.m. that evening.

• Mr. Kemmerer took students to the Solo and Ensemble Contest and came home with four 1st place medals, six 2nd place, and a Best of Day awarded to Tyler Stewart who received a perfect score. Congratulations to all who participated.

Building Activities

• ROE performed their Health, Life, Safety Inspections on March 5.

Principal Andrew Full, Amboy Junior High 

Curriculum and School Improvement

• On March 2 during School Improvement Day, Krista Peterson from the ROE talked to the staff about building relationships with students.

• Amie Wiseman discussed some different technology ideas/apps about drawing. ELA teachers met with the Wit and Wisdom representative.

• On March 3, the School Improvement Team met with Anji Garza to continue discussing professional development for the remainder of the year and next year. They also discussed their 1003 (a) grant budget and new curriculums.

• On Feb. 4, the 5th/6th grade teams met for grade level meetings and on Feb. 11, 7th/8th grade teams met.

PBIS

•On Feb. 3, during the monthly PBIS SIP Assembly, the following awards were given out: Clipper P.R.I.D.E., Students of the Month, Faculty/Staff Recognition, and Girls Basketball. A friendly competition was held between grade levels.

• Clipper P.R.I.D.E. recipients included Zyler Smith, Blerta Fekolli, Kaylee Scanland, Josh McKendry, Kabe Daniels, Carson Barlow, Nicholas Noble, Alainie Wittenauer, Madison Althaus, James Eisenberg, Brandon Garcia-Meirndorf, Bentley Wiley, John Bonnell, Jack Cline, Aaron Costner, Alyxandria Shepard, Aubrey McGuire, Micah Miller, Lilly Montantes, Javion Greene, Bella Yanos, and Rylyn Karrow.

• Students of the Month

5th Grade-Lane Goff and Leighton Gulley

6th Grade-Peyton Payne and Victor Lopez-Belmontes

7th Grade-Brysen Full and Brooklyn Strub

8th Grade-Brennan Blaine and Rylyn Karrow

P.E.-Alyvia Whelchel

Faculty/Staff Recognition winners were Vanessa Goslin and Josie Morris.

Principal Joyce Schamberger, Central Elementary 

School Improvement

• The Central School Improvement Team attended training at Sauk and continues to meet to discuss the indicators for improvement of the school.

PBIS

• During an all school assembly on March 2, Student of the Week certificates were handed out. 

• Third quarter PBIS celebrations were held on March 13. The elementary school went to the Princeton theater to watch the movie, “Onward.”

School Activities

• The 2nd grade class won the Best Attendance Award for February with 98.2 percent attendance. They earned a snack sponsored by the Central School PTC.

• On March 2, John Jones spoke to students about the Girls Scouts program. Information and coloring sheets were handed out to students.

• Set-up for the Pancake/French Toast and Sausage Breakfast was on Feb. 29 and the breakfast was held on March 1. The event served 1,134 people with 53 tickets sold at the door. There were 1,565 pre-sold tickets. Schamberger thanked everyone who made this a successful fundraiser. 

• On March 5, a Story Walk was held in the gym. Families came and enjoyed the story and the activities at each station.

OTHER BUSINESS

• The board gave approval to the administration to begin moving forward with 8-Man Football at Amboy High School, effective fall of 2021. Nichols said his feeling is that people are supportive of this change.

• The 2020-21 school calendar was approved. Next year’s calendar is similar to this year’s and is aligned closely with Whiteside.

PERSONNEL

Following closed session, the board accepted the resignation of Deanna Drew as AHS agriculture teacher at the end of this school year and that of Kristi Boehle as building secretary at Central School, effective Feb. 28. They accepted the retirement resignation of Cheryl Bonnell as reading paraprofessional at Central School, effective at the end of the school year, and that of Elmer Shaw as a bus driver, effective March 2.

They approved the employment of Trese McNinch as AHS fresh/soph girls track coach for the 2019-20 school year and Ben Schott as boys track coach at Amboy Junior High also for the 2019-20 school year.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 23 at Amboy Junior High School. All meetings are open to the public.